Midnight Ride (Oribe Paintings)Bjarne Melgaard
–Press release
PRESS RELEASE
Known for embracing the tensions between art as a deeply personal or political expression—and art as a luxury commodity—Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard’s work can be interpreted as an active critique of capitalism and consumption delivered through complex, layered, and provocative aesthetics.This stance is reflected through artworks and exhibitions that frequently blur boundaries between disciplines and industries.
Throughout his multi-disciplinary practice, Melgaard has engaged in forward-thinking collaborations across beauty and fashion—with artists and designers such as Helmut Lang, Susan Cianciolo, Babak Radboy, and TELFAR. Notably, he created bespoke jewelry for miniature pigs in partnership with Norwegian jeweler Bjørg Nordli‑Mathisen (BJØRG) for The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment, exhibited at Red Bull Arts New York in 2017. Two years earlier, he handed over his paintings and sculptures to makeup artist Kanako Takase, celebrity hairstylist Bob Recine, and fashion designer Andre Walker, inviting them to freely reinterpret his work. Their interventions—through hairstyling, cosmetics, and garment construction—transformed the pieces into hybrid objects that blurred the lines between art, design, and fashion. Presented at a Parisian gallery, the exhibition became a total environment where beauty, art, and commodity intersected, collided, and ultimately coexisted. [1]
Continuing this exploration of unconventional materials, for Midnight Ride: Oribe Paintings his solo exhibition at Nedre Slottsgate 8 Melgaard employs yet another unexpected medium: Oribe shampoo and conditioners. Founded by legendary hairstylist Oribe Canales, Oribe is a luxury haircare brand that is celebrated by beauty experts including top celebrity and editorial hairstylists. Known for high-performance formulas promising salon-quality results and glamorous hair-care experiences—the brand’s ethos is to transform everyday haircare routines into luxurious rituals emphasizing beauty and indulgence.
In a full room installation exploding with color and Oribe’s distinctive scent profile, Melgaard presents new paintings, drawings and sculptures in a unit formerly occupied by Balenciaga at Promenaden: a luxury shopping district in Oslo’s historic city centre.
Since April 2025, Esperanza Rosales [2] has organized an experimental program of activity at this location, repurposing the former store into a private showroom, and offering an intimate, behind the scenes view onto the typically concealed and now partially exposed underlying structure of the building it connects to: Steen & Strøm, Oslo’s oldest department store.
In this setting, Melgaard’s works are free to playfully recast the relational dynamics between luxury and art, blurring boundaries through irony and excess, as well as an aesthetic reframing of luxury codes through various gestures both critical and indulgent.
A text excerpt from a freshly written novel by the artist, that will be published by Forlaget Oktober next year, anchors the exhibition in the form of a wall drawing executed in charcoal. Given the title “New Model Manifesto,” it dedicates the work, and possibly the show to fellow artists — a confident and defiant address of ambivalence and contradiction, “For the artist who has better things to do than be in the studio.”
Endnotes
1 The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment” at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris.
2. The founder of VI, VII gallery.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Bjarne Melgaard was born in Sydney, Australia to Norwegian parents in 1967. He was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo; the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam and the Jan Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. After living in Brussels, and New York for periods of time, the artist now lives and works in Oslo.
Through a multi-disciplinary practice that encompasses drawing, painting, sculpture and large-scale installations, Melgaard pushes the limits of social acceptance and forges a space where subcultures and parallel worlds can coexist. A frequent curator and collaborator, Melgaard has written 14 novels, owned a record label, produced a fashion line, wine, perfumes and a number of films.
His first solo exhibition outside of Norway was organized by legendary Belgian curator Jan Hoet. Since then, his work has been exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States.
Solo presentations of his work have taken place at Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London; de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam; Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norway; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MARTa Herford, Hannover; Red Bull Arts New York; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin and commercial galleries including Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne; Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London; Greene Naftali Gallery, New York and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York.
In 2011, Bjarne Melgaard represented Norway at the 54th Venice Biennial. His work has also been included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, the 5th Lyon Biennale, 12th Lyon Biennale and group exhibitions at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Kunstmuseum Bonn; S.M.A.K., Gent; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Palais de Tokyo, Paris and White Columns, New York.
In 2025 his VR work “My Trip” first shown at Julia Stoschek Foundation (Berlin) in 2019 was acquired by the AKG Museum in Buffalo New York.
The artist’s work is represented in the permanent collections of many major museums including MoMA, New York; MOCA, Los Angeles; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Moderna Museum, Stockholm; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg; Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo; The Astrup Fearnley Museum, amongst others.
In 2025 alone, the artist’s work has been included in institutional exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (Énormément bizarre) and Moderna Museum, Stockholm (Yet Another Morning) - both of which are permanent collection exhibitions, and at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in “Through the Years” an exhibition highlighting works from the personal collection of Christen Sveeas.
The group exhibition “On the Origins of the 21st Century or the Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography,” curated by Dina Akhmadeeva, Erika Balsom, Angela Harutyunyan, Elisa R. Linn, Pierre Alexandre- Mateos and Charles Tessyou is currently on view at Kunstverein in Hamburg.
The exhibition Midnight Ride: Oribe Paintings opens with a private reception on October 2nd from 5-7pm, and will remain on view by appointment until November 28th. To schedule a viewing please contact the gallery office@vivii.o / +47 902 79 862
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation with cardboard, assorted products, canvas and Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Mixed media installation hand-written text drawn in charcoal and three paintings made with Oribe shampoo and conditioners.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Mixed media installation with charcoal, metal shelves, assorted products and painting made with Oribe shampoo.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Painting (Melgaard): Acrylic, shampoo and conditioner on canvas Drawing (Melgaard & Ytre-Eide): oil pastels and marker on paper
Painting (Melgaard): Acrylic, shampoo and conditioner on canvas Drawing (Melgaard & Ytre-Eide): oil pastels and marker on paper
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2025
Acrylic paint and shampoo
120 × 160 cm (47 ¼ × 63 inches)
Acrylic paint and shampoo
120 × 160 cm (47 ¼ × 63 inches)
